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Unbelievably, I've got "Blue Suede Shoes" from the Greatest Hits book down pretty well already. And I'm finally going to figure out how to record and post stuff here.

Oh, and while I was doing a Hanon exercise, I stumbled onto the opening riff of Squeeze's "Black Coffee in Bed". That may not sound so amazing but it's the first thing I've figured out on my own and I'm very excited. For those of you familiar with the song, the notes are A B D / D B A / A B D D.

whew just got done with bach minuet in G in tempo and can-can almost to tempo. i'm amazed at how much practicing music pieces on the side help with the progression of playing the songs in the book. if it wasn't for learning minuet in G, can-can would seem like a nightmare. just gotta get it to tempo, though PianoNoobAlex's vid tells me it might take a couple of good practices. lol

whew just got done with bach minuet in G in tempo and can-can almost to tempo. i'm amazed at how much practicing music pieces on the side help with the progression of playing the songs in the book. if it wasn't for learning minuet in G, can-can would seem like a nightmare. just gotta get it to tempo, though PianoNoobAlex's vid tells me it might take a couple of good practices. lol

how is everyone else doing?

Sounds great fanatik. I'm self teaching so I don't have any of these on the side supplemental pieces. I bought the Alfred supplemental books though, Greatest Hits 1, All time favorite 1, Christmas 1 etc... but I won't get into those until I'm done with the Method book and do all these as I go back and review. Are these given to you all from your teachers? I wonder if they are somewhere to download and if they cost anything? Just so I know what they are like and see if I can mess around with them.

Anyway, I took Andrelie & BazC advices and did the overlapping lastnight. It came out pretty good. Difficult at first because if its timing but many repetions get me somewhere. The song sounds great and more smooth (legato) with the right overlapping (heck I'm not even sure if mine is right but it sounds much better than my old pedaling. I guess I'm doing something right if not everything). I think the split delay of the pedaling makes the music more connected from one chord to the next. More practice needed for this one though but it's well worth the effort. I also tried it in Melodic Chord style too. It sounds much better than the Block Chord style the book suggests; makes the song sound 3 times better I think. I'm psyched.

I flipped a few pages ahead at the end of practice and messed around with "Go Down, Moses" and "Scarborough Fair" a bit. "Scarborough Fair" doesn't seem as intimidating as "O Sole Mio!". The Melodic Chord of "Greensleeves" I have been messing around with also helps. I think I'm going to enjoy this one a lot too.

Sadly no teacher for me Nguyen. Like you, I'm self teaching. In the area I live in Hawaii there aren't many piano teachers that offer services, and with that said it's really hard to say what kind of credentials they may have. I wouldn't mind having lessons to strictly correct my posture and technique which I know needs some instruction. lol

I've been using some free sheet music websites to learn from. Most of the songs have MIDI files to listen to so you can reference off of them. Google could probably offer more sites to choose from too.

I always had trouble with the slow ones too, Captain Zero. I'm not sure how slow I played that one, but I remember liking it a lot, so I must have played it fast enough to sound good. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Nguyen, I found "Greensleeves" and "Scarborough Fair" easier to pick up than O Sole Mio also. I must have a mental block about that one.

I started "Raisins and Almonds" this morning - it has similar broken chords like "Greensleeves" and "Scarborough" so it shouldn't be too tough. I am having some trouble with the pedalling in all three though. Probably because I went through most of the book before I got my DP with a pedal, so I was "behind" in pedalling and haven't caught up yet. Or maybe just because I can't coordinate that many things at one time. LOL

First of all, thanks for the tips on the pedal! I will certainly put a new pedal on my wishlist for my birthday or Christmas.

Secondly, I did quite an OK job on Blow the Man Down, my teacher was impressed, but said I needed to perfect the counting (she said I played the eighth note a bit too short). I thought it would be merely impossible to change that, and keep on playing with LH in the right rhythm, but it was not that bad. Hopefully she will approve it on Monday.

In the meantime, I am practicing Lone Star Waltz, Cafe Vienna and Rock it Away! I like Cafe Vienna, because of its fingerchanging, it is great fun!. Rock it Away I like better as a song.

Well my teacher is using this book with me and I am on "Oh when the saints go marching in" and monday will be my 3rd lesson...I'm loving this book and can't wait to finish it, I've been looking ahead a little and playing songs that we havent gone over yet...I just hope I can keep up this enthusiasm! I have big dreams and hope I'm not dreaming too big with this new venture bcuz I hope to be able to play very advanced stuff someday.

There is nothing special about those numbers, just approximations I came up with when doing some googling a few weeks back about tempo. They have worked well for me so far.

Also just as a general update on how my learning is going, I have not made much progress in the Alfred's book lately. I am using the Greatest Hits book as an accompaniment and have spent the last week or so perfecting Edelweiss. I have actually gotten Edelweiss down very well, but then I went back to Alpine Melody and found that I backtracked pretty badly with my right-hand D7 chord! AARRRRRRGGHHH!!!

I also tried to move ahead to Happy Birthday to You and found the 1/8 notes much trickier to count than I thought they were going to be.

So I will spend a few days re-perfecting my right-hand D7 and working on counting 1/8 notes and then I'll move ahead a little bit. I guess this is where progress through the book starts to slow down.

I've been using some free sheet music websites to learn from. Most of the songs have MIDI files to listen to so you can reference off of them. Google could probably offer more sites to choose from too.

So if anyone has any other sheet music suggestions, you know who will be grateful!

fanatik,Thanks for sharing these sites. I will be sure to pay them a visit.

mom3gram,You're right. I think O Sole Mio is harder because if its left hand broken chord style. I understand the pedal part. It's tough, you have company though, so that's not too too bad. .

icanplaytoo,I'm new to this thread too. I don't recall we met yet so WELCOME! It's a great place to share this new found love, "MUSIC". I admit without this forum, I might have wondered off a bit. It keeps us kinda on track in a sense. Hopefully one day we'll look back and say "Yes, I have done that with those folks in PW AIO etc... Keep up the enthusiasm.

mooshinator,Welcome back. You've been missing for a while. Glad to hear your progress with Edelweiss. Yeah, the later songs in the book sound better but they are more difficult to get. They are longer, more notes, different left hand styles etc... The reward is that once you get one under your hands, you get this amazing feeling of accomplishment. So it will be fun, much much fun.

I'm also starting to see practice pay big time dividends. BtMD, CanCan, Alpine Melody, Harp Song, Happy Birth Day etc... songs that are tough to get help a lot down the stretch. Those songs help get our hands working independently; and almost all songs toward the end have left and right hands doing their own thing.

mom3gram,I am right behind you. I graduated myself with "Greensleeves" and has started "Go Down, Moses" last night. This one is pretty good. I guess it's one of those not very tough one like Jericho. Hopefully I'll get it down tonight and can start "Scarborough Fair" this weekend.

Got through BTMD pretty easily. And yeah, I'm patting myself on the back for that, because I have a million other weaknesses -- and those are just the ones I know about. As soon as I find a job, I'm getting a teacher. No idea who it'll be, but I pity him/her already.

I put aside the Alfred's book for a few days and started working out the second part of Bach's Minuet in G. It took me days to learn the right hand part of the first half a few weeks ago, but I got the right hand part of the second half memorized in one evening -- I'm not thrilled with my reading skills, but at least I'm seeing some improvement.

The left hand part is going a little slower. I still don't have the whole thing down, but it was a nice break from the Alfred's book. Of course, now I'm getting tired of the Minuet again, so it's back to Alfred -- Cafe Vienna, specifically.

Do you all do the written exercises? I tend to read those pages, play them a bit, and then move on -- then I go back later on and do them as a review. And how much time do you spend on the Hanon exercises?

The last couple of weeks I've read the first 50 pages of this thread and decided to subscribe to the forum and post on my progress. Three weeks ago I bought a Yamaha S80 stagepiano and started with Alfred. I practice 2-3 hours/day but would have practice more if I didn't feel my wrists. I have no musical experience but so far so good. Today I started on Alouette and Lavender's Blue and I hope I can start on BTMD next week, that is if my teacher is not holding me back (again)

Karen627, I do all the written exercises in the book, plus I've picked up a couple of primer and level 1 theory books and have done the written exercises in those too. I started out here with absolutely zero knowledge of music - didn't even know there was something called Middle C, much less where it was located (duh, in the middle). I figured I needed all the theory help I could find. As for Hanon, I've done the first Hanon from the Alfred book several times, and attempted the second one a few times, but I never made them a regular part of my practice. Perhaps I should - but so many things to learn, so little time.

I've been a lurker here for some time, so I thought an introduction was overdue.

I'm fast approaching 50, and a couple of months ago I finally decided to try to learn the piano. Since then I've purchased the Sudnow method (excellent, but I feel I'm not quite ready for it yet), and subscribed to Willie Myette's site ( a wonderful resource). I felt I needed something more structured at the moment, and reading about the Alfred's books here led me to try them; so I've been working on the first book since the end of October, and am currently tackling Café Vienna on P94.

The forum here is wonderful, and this thread in particular has been a great help, so thanks to you all, and I look forward to talking to some of you in the future.

I am still 'stuck' at about the same place as last week, although the songs do sound better. Partially because I had very little time to sit down at the piano this week, and when I did sit down, I was practising the Christmas tunes my teacher showed me. Those are not ready yet either as the book only arrived on Thursday and I was not back home until late that day. Excuses...

Anyway, my lesson was moved to Tuesday, so I have time tonight to get working on those tunes - I am supposed to play one of them together with my teacher (4 hands!!!!).

That sounds like fun, gintarec! Being a self-teacher, I've never played a duet with anyone.

You are working on a bunch of tough ones now - I ended up giving up on "Good People", I just couldn't get that one and I didn't like it enough to work on it forever. "Little Brown Jug" was really tough, "Jericho" and "Auld Lang Syne" were much easier. You've got some really nice ones coming up, like "Greensleeves" and "Scarborough Fair".

I did 'try out' both Greensleeves and Scarborough Fair, and I love them. Hopefully it won't take too long to get through with those! I think I am having 2-3 weeks off over Christmas, so I hope to be able to play a lot in those days!!!!

I am the old joke - what do you call someone who can't read music... the gutair player. 30 years of guitar and can't read a note. So I started piano lessons just over 3 weeks ago. I am up to WHEN THE SAINTS. It is frustrating to be so technically inept. I can jazz it and jam it with the guitar. On the piano, I cannot hardly keep time.

I am dedicated to learning piano, doing it right and being a better musician. To that end I am doing 100% piano study. Much as I would like to relax and go off to play my guitar - But I won't go another 30 years and be just on old joke. So I am as lousy a piano player as I ever knew - but I am gonna be a good one day, someday.

I am struggling, so I am quite impressed with progess of others in the forum. That is encouraging. I can relate because I am in the same Alfred's book. But I will have to keep my own pace. I really enjoy the ongoing exchanges and think this forum is really keen.

Do you all do the written exercises? I tend to read those pages, play them a bit, and then move on -- then I go back later on and do them as a review. And how much time do you spend on the Hanon exercises?

Karen,Yes, I do some of the written exercises. The more difficult ones that require memorizing and studying, then make copies of these and the songs that I'm working on and review them on Bus & Subway commute to and from work. I think the review and reading through the songs help with left hand sight reading.

N303y and RonWELCOME. Very happy you decided to join. You have certainly made the right choice. We can all benefit from each other's progress. I was also a lurker for a few months and finally decided to join late last month so I'm new here too. Sometimes find myself excited and talk/write too much so I'm cutting back on that. It's fun both writing and reading these posts. I was thinking practicing is probably doing me more good than visiting and spending a lot of time here but I can't help it. LOL... Have fun.

mom3gramWe are on the same boat LOL... It's tough at times without guidance. These past few days/week I have been working so hard on Greensleeves and Scarborough Fair. I think my Greensleeves sounds really good with my left hand improvised broken chords, but I have no one to give me an opinion/critic, pass/fail or encouragement. It's very encouraging that I have this place to brag about... LOL... But then, no one really knows if I do it right/wrong, so so, good or great...

GintarecYou're doing really really well. It takes me months to get to those songs... Have fun doing those duets with your teacher.

This past weekend I was doing extensive work on Greensleeves and Scarborough Fair. I think I'm doing ok with these and passed myself, yes again. I started working on "Raisins and Almonds" last night. Mom3gram, I have finally catched up with you, if you're still at this one. Hopefully I'll get through it this week. The next few songs look pretty tough. I took a peak and tried some counting but it's too tough so I stopped and not allow myself to flip forward again. Focus on Raisins and Almonds... Focus... LOL.

I am the old joke - what do you call someone who can't read music... the gutair player. 30 years of guitar and can't read a note. So I started piano lessons just over 3 weeks ago. I am up to WHEN THE SAINTS. It is frustrating to be so technically inept. I can jazz it and jam it with the guitar. On the piano, I cannot hardly keep time.

I am dedicated to learning piano, doing it right and being a better musician. To that end I am doing 100% piano study. Much as I would like to relax and go off to play my guitar - But I won't go another 30 years and be just on old joke. So I am as lousy a piano player as I ever knew - but I am gonna be a good one day, someday.

I am struggling, so I am quite impressed with progess of others in the forum. That is encouraging. I can relate because I am in the same Alfred's book. But I will have to keep my own pace. I really enjoy the ongoing exchanges and think this forum is really keen.

Captain,Didn't see your post when I started mine so WELCOME. You're better than most of us. Some of us don't know any guitar, and when we started, we didn't know any notes either. I didn't know there's such a thing as Middle C. You're 30 years ahead already even before you started WELCOME again. Happy practice.

Still practicing Cafe Vienna, BtMD, Lullaby and Got Those Blues, while trying to find a teacher. No luck yet though, I've tried three already and they're all full on students. Going to try another one tomorrow, because I really want to start taking lessons, otherwise I'm afraid I will start slacking.

I'm new, too. I've always wanted to learn to play piano, so I'm doing it! I'm about 1/2 way through book 1 of Alfred's Basic Adult program. I also am working through the Basic Theory book 1, Notespeller, and a few of the other Alfred's level 1 adult books.

I've been reading the forum for several days and enjoying all of it. I'm also learning many new things and accumulating many wonderful links.

BTW, what is the difference in the Alfred's Basic Adult course and the All-In-One course?

I've been playing Amazing Grace for about a week now and just played it all the way through with no major mistakes for the first time I just took it very slowly and tried to look one measure ahead all the time so I didn't keep pausing. Although I've got to say that arpeggiated chord (in a triplet, no less) was a b@*ch to work out.

Now it's on to the "Part of Your World" from the Greatest Hits book and I'll be able to move on to book 2 of each!!!

BTW, what is the difference in the Alfred's Basic Adult course and the All-In-One course?

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

Shelly in Oklahoma

Shelly, WELCOME to the thread. Hope you will enjoy it as much as I have. The All-In-One book has more songs, theory, some hanon exercises, written exercises etc... I think it combines the Notespeller, Theory, Fingers aerobic into one book. I don't think it's as detail as buying them separately though so you're probably better off working with the Basic book and get the other books separately. I bought the Basic book when I started because I didn't know better until I found this thread. Then I bought the AIO book so I can follow along with everyone here. Now I have 2 plus all the supplemental books you have. It's funny I have all the books, but I only allow myself to focus on one right now, the AIO. I don't think I'm too good with multi-tasking. I plan on going back to review from the beginning of the AIO and will do the supplemental books as I go along. I think I'll have a better idea in a few months if the Basic and all the additional books are better or about the same as the AIO.Have a good evening everyone.

Thank you Nguyen. Reading all these posts takes a lot of (practice) time but it's indeed fun and encourage me. I've to confess that I still need to catch up with the last 40 pages.

I've a problem that I can't read notes when I play at tempo. After practising at very slow speed I automatically memorise the notes. This way it seems that I'll never be able to read notes properly. Could this be a problem later on?